National Poetry Writing Month

You may have heard of National Novel Writing Month: the month of November set aside for thousands of writers around the world to pound out 50,000 word novels.

Just this morning I learned of NaPoWriMo, a poetry writing project that coincides with April's National Poetry Month. Kathryn, a recent commenter, is posting her poems at Aenigmas.

I'm a two-time winner of NaNoWriMo, and I'm a fan of these kinds of projects. They're like the marathons of the writing world. Completion is possible but not guaranteed, when you do finish, there's an extra thrill.

I found great energy and motivation in undertaking a challenge like this at the same time as tens or hundreds or thousands of others. Discussion forums let you take advantage of the community aspect. And at the end, you're left with material you might not have written otherwise. (The novel I'm working on now is based on my first NaNoWriMo draft.)

The NaNoWriMo Daily Q&A has some great stories of various writers' experiences with NaNoWriMo.